As Christians, we have the unique opportunity to be united with our fellow community members with a single foundation. Our faith in Christ means there is always common ground to fall back on, consistent standards that can be upheld, and some degree of agreement that can be banked on when dealing with conflict in the church.
To take full advantage of the cohesion we get to experience as children of God, it’s important to make sure your church is on the same page with regard to beliefs and expectations. As obvious as it may seem that Christians, especially of the same church body, would have the same beliefs and expectations, humans are flawed. Misunderstandings happen. Disagreements arise.
Clarifying these issues and preventing them in the first place can be done by having an accurate perception of your community as well as a deep and complete understanding of its needs. What makes your congregation unique? What are their collective struggles? What needs to be done to keep them as a body of Christ intact an on track?
Digging deep into these topics and finding the truth requires a high level of self-awareness. It’s difficult to be able to strip away personal feelings, inclinations, and potential biases in favor of being able to see the facts surrounding the church you’re responsible for guiding, protecting, and nurturing. As a leader, this is something you’re tasked with.
Once you’ve taken the steps to fully and completely understand where your community is at and what their needs are, creating structure that allows these needs to be addressed is crucial. Creating four key documents to outline and confirm to all who see them exactly where your church stands, what its mission is, and what it seeks to do streamlines your ability to communicate with and understand the needs of your community.
1. Mission Statement
Your church’s mission statement is essentially an overarching purpose you, as a community of active and willing Christ-followers, seek to carry out over your time together as a congregation. Having this written out and established as concrete makes it clear for all to see what you and your church are about. It also gives you a common focal point against which to measure any project, idea, or direction that is proposed. You can ensure you’re constantly pushing forward toward one mission by keeping your mission statement at the forefront of everything you do.
2. Church Goal
This, separate from the mission statement, defines the specific goal you have for your community. You can think of it as a necessary action step to live out your mission statement that, when constantly striven for by all, makes living out your mission statement possible. The goal itself can help to direct individual members in their personal lives with a bit finer specification than the typically broad-reaching, cooperation-requiring mission statement.
3. Church Theme
Your church’s theme is a statement that essentially sets the tone for your community, every decision it makes, and everything it does. From how to go about outreach to planning children’s programming, having one solid and cohesive theme helps ensure your church’s actions are consistent and done in a way that best utilizes the unique set of individuals that make up your church body.
4. Vision Statement
The vision statement is a lens through which your church as a body sees the world and its future. What would the world look like if you, together as a working, active body carried out your mission? How would God be glorified? What would this mean for your community? This vision is what helps ensure the motives and intentions of your entire congregation work together.
Final Thoughts
Putting together a policy document is crucial to your church’s overall well-being, and this is a large part of what we do here at KBC. We’d love the chance to have a discussion with you about the future of your church, its beliefs, and the impact it’ll have on the world. Your church matters. Planning goes a long way, and we’re here to make sure your planning is as effective as possible.